The
Big Turn: Hysteria in the Time of Trump
Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 7/22/18
The
Big Turn begs for comment. It occurred
only recently, not because of any change of heart, but solely because of animosity
for one individual, our current president.
This
dramatic turn was taken by the nation’s political Left. For decades the Left, meaning Democrats,
socialists, and the mainstream media, played footsie with the Soviet
Union. In fact, from its origin in 1917
to its demise in 1991 and beyond, the Soviet Union (now Russia) has enjoyed the
affection of the American Left.
There
is something about socialism/communism/collectivism that woos those who are
left of center. Leftists simply believe
in governmental activism and power.
Government is their chief tool for achieving social/political goals, not
persuasion or even community action.
Believing that we all should like big government, they have no qualms
about forcing others to accept their views.
Leftists just don’t trust the individual. They yearn for Old Europe statism.
Rightists
are the opposite. Like America’s
intrepid forebears who conquered woods and terrain, they are deeply devoted to
individualism. Just grant me freedom,
thank you, and I’ll take care of myself, they argue. But no, you need the village and you must
accept and live by what the village wants, argues the leftist. Of course the village likes to tax and spend,
limit individualism, and rush to the courts and the streets when things don’t
go its way.
No
wonder that during the Cold War, Democrats were accused of being “soft on
communism.” The lingo of the Cold War
years was “hawks” and “doves.” Hawks
favored a strong stance against the Soviets.
Doves were Soviet sympathizers.
Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington State was one of the few
Democrats who argued for standing up to the ever-expanding Soviets. Not so most leftists, however.
When
the Soviet Union began to crumble from its own weight, three world leaders saw
an opportunity to hasten its fall in hopes that the Soviet people might finally
see freedom’s light. All three of these
leaders – Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul, and Ronald Reagan – were opposed
by the Left. Thatcher despised socialism. Pope John Paul, being Polish, knew firsthand
about the long arm of the socialist Soviets.
And Ronald Reagan, that cowboy from out west who the Left claimed would
get us all blown up, not only ended, but won the Cold War.
Even
though the words, “Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall,” were in Reagan’s speech
to be delivered at the Berlin Wall, his advisors urged him not to say
them. In Truman-esque and Trumpian
style, however, Reagan followed his own gut and the Left cringed. They also cringed when he called the Soviet
Union “the Evil Empire.”
Today,
the Left’s Big Turn is complete. Today
it’s OK to call Russia and Mr. Putin evil, and a citizen or president who
doesn’t is “uninformed” and “senseless.”
But what caused the turn? Is
Putin worse than Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, or the Soviet satellite puppets
like Castro? Why was the Left so
enamored with their philosophical cousins for 7 decades, only to turn on their
present collectivist cousin Putin and call him an enemy?
If
they were consistent, the Left would be praising Putin as they did his
socialist, murderous predecessors. A
Russian communist tyrant is a Russian communist tyrant.
The
cause of the Big Turn is hatred of Donald Trump. If Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, or John Kasich had
been elected president and were sitting with Putin this past week at Helsinki, taking the same position President Trump took,
the Left and its Republican hangers-on would have been praising them for their
moderation.
Absent
of Trump, the following words would be the Left’s line: “The U.S. and Russia
own the vast majority of the world’s nukes.
An American president must therefore play nice with the Russian leader
and always be in dialogue with him.
Failure to engage in détente will move us closer to Cold War II. It would be foolish not to be friends with
Mr. Putin.”
The
Left still won’t acknowledge that in 2016 at least half of the country wanted a
new sheriff, even if the new sheriff had a foul mouth. Strong man politics, not Republican niceness,
was what the deplorables had in mind.
The
Left, who formerly never saw a socialist they couldn’t love, is using Putin.
Having hypocritically turned from their love of Russian socialism, they disdain
Putin merely because he dialogues with a president whom they equally disdain.
Hysteria
reigns in the Leftist camp. By 2020 it will have choked them.
Roger Hines
7/18/18
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